A Trail of Cards (Final)
A/N: Jan ;.; goodbye story ♥
Band: Arashi
Rating: R (for later violence just in case)
Synopsis: Detective AU. Sho Sakurai, a private detective is pulled swiftly into a dwindling police force in a city with an ever growing crime rate. But how can he help them deal with cases when there's suspicion and doubt over his skills? And the overhanging thoughts of an old betrayal...
No idea for pairings yet, if there are any. (edit: Junxoc, One-sided Ohmiya and Sakumiya but possibly only for now)
Epilogue: Life goes on?
“Sho? Satoshi?” Aiba kept calling their names out into his earpiece even though they had seen the explosion from outside and watched the building crumble in on itself.
“It’s no use, Masaki. We need to get in there.” Dawn took out her earpiece, getting out of the car at the same time.
“No, wait.” Jun held up a hand, telling the others to be quiet as a small sleek car came out of the dust cloud nearby, going past them as if it didn’t notice them. “Do you think that’s the group member Nino was on about?”
“You think we should follow them? Now? Really?” Dawn raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
“Yeah, they need us in there!”
“Satoshi wanted you to stay out here for that reason, Masaki.” Jun snapped. “He wondered if this would happen and he wanted you to go after them.” He looked back to the building. “He also said you couldn’t go alone so you two go off and I’ll go in and look for them.”
“But-”
“It’s not going to collapse anymore and Masaki needs reliable back up.” Jun pushed them both back in the car. “I’ll keep my earpiece on. If I need help, I promise to ask for it.”
Dawn and Aiba watched Jun through the rear view mirror as they drove off before trying to follow the car.
“You do know he was just trying to get rid of us, right?” Dawn held the earpiece away so that he couldn’t hear her.
“Yeah.” Aiba looked at her meaningfully so that he didn’t say anything that might incriminate him to Jun. He looked away quickly, guilt overwhelming him.
“You know none of them blame you, right? This head on clash would have happened whether you told them or not.”
“Maybe…”
~~~~~~~~
“Sho? Satoshi?...Nino?” Jun coughed as he clambered over the rubble, wondering if he was even going the right way now that everything looked so different. “Come on, somebody answer me.” He shouted, unable to keep in his panic.
“Jun?”
“Satoshi?” Jun ran forwards, stumbling slightly as he made it to the other pair on the ground. “Are you alright?”
“Just about, Sho got hit by some rubble though.” Ohno pulled Sho up, having been assessing the damage. “I think he’ll be alright.”
“Good. What about-” The question caught in his throat as Ohno looked behind him into the next room that was damaged a lot more than the others. He couldn’t even see past the doorway, the roof caved in so low. “Is he…?”
“We don’t know.” Sho shook his head, feeling dizzy, trying to ignore the little trail of blood slipping down his face.
~~~~~~~~
“Uggh…” Nino’s eyes fluttered open as pain flooded through his body. He looked this way and that, trying to see through the dust and debris around him. He was sure he could hear Ohno’s voice but whether that was his mind playing tricks on him he couldn’t tell. He closed his eyes again, almost ready to give in to the pain and forget everything that had happened until he felt someone pulling away whatever was on top of him and pull him to his feet. He struggled against whoever it was, not opening his eyes to see because it no longer mattered to him. Couldn’t they even let him die in peace?
“Oh no, you don’t. I’m getting you out of here alive if I have to knock you out.” A dark grumble echoed through the room.
Nino blanched at the voice. “J-Jun? Why would you-?” He coughed, feeling the dust settling in his lungs as he opened his eyes. “Just leave me here.”
“No.” Jun pushed forwards, grabbing Nino’s arm and wrapping it around his shoulder. “You’re not dying on us after all this trouble.”
Nino looked down, wincing at the limp in Jun’s gait. “But after everything I’ve done.”
“You saved Dawn.”
Nino looked up at Jun, startled. “What?”
“I heard what you said. And well…I’d rather you hurt me than her. Protecting her gave you a favourable point even if I do still want to kill you.” Jun chuckled. “But I can’t do that if you die on me now can I?”
“You always were sadistic.” Nino sighed, closing his eyes.
“I just want us to go back to the way things were. Sure it may take a while for everyone to trust you again, I think Satoshi’s going to take the longest but in your position I wonder what I would have done.” Jun sniffed, wondering if he was being too kind. “And anyway, Masaki would be upset if I didn’t at least try and help you.”
“That sounds more believable.” Nino laughed with him, wondering if he was having some kind of hallucination with oxygen deprivation or from a concussion. No way in real life would Jun be this understanding after everything he’d done.
“Have you got him?”
“Yeah, aren’t you two meant to be getting out of here?” Jun snapped at the other two still waiting for them.
“And what if it had collapsed more? Yeah, let’s send the injured one into a broken old building- how come the other two even let you?” Sho managed to snap back, the pain in his head making him groggy and annoyed.
“Let’s worry about that after we get out, alright?” Ohno spoke calmly, feeling relieved that they were all going to make it out in one piece.
~~~~~~~~
“You’re all OK.” Dawn rushed forwards, though she was beaten to it by Aiba who managed to seemingly hug them all at the same time (albeit with quite a few curses and almost making the group fall over).
“Aren’t you meant to be chasing a car?” Jun would have put his hands on his hips if he still wasn’t supporting Nino or well keeping hold of him as he didn’t seem to want to face any of them even though he was too injured to go anywhere fast.
“Well, we stopped hearing you in the earpiece.” Dawn looked over at Aiba then, who nodded back frantically.
“Yeah, you promised to keep it on and-” Aiba bit his lip as Jun looked at him. “What? We were worried, alright? And I’d rather we made sure everyone got out than follow that car anyway, even if you don’t agree.” He looked at them all as if asking any of them to argue with him.
“I did keep it on though.” Jun frowned.
“Oh, must have been our side that stopped working then.” Dawn looked down at the earpiece, trying not to look up and show her small smile at all, although she knew that Sho was smirking at her at least.
“Wow, seems like your new girlfriend is a bad influence on Masa.” Nino muttered, unable to resist before the silence after his words reminded him that he wasn’t part of the group. He was the criminal they’d just caught and spent the last few months trying to find.
Aiba stepped away from the others and gave Jun a look to let Nino go. He stared for a second as Nino refused to look at him, looking smaller than ever if only because all of his cocky attitude seemed to have leached out of him. “It’s good to see you, Nino.” He rushed forward, hugging him tightly, not caring that he was crying because they all would have expected it anyway. “I’m so sorry for causing all of this.”
“What? You didn’t cause any of it.” Nino scowled, trying to pull away though it just made him ache more. “I-It was my choice. I chose to leave. I could have refused, like you and Jun did.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Ohno muttered, looking away from them all as if he didn’t agree with the way Jun and Aiba seemed to have forgiven him. “So, what are we going to do now?”
“We’re going to go to the hospital.” Sho pulled away from Ohno, shocking him with his input. “And all get checked over and once that is done, then we can think about what happens next.”
“But-”
“But what?” Jun snapped. “We’ve spent all this time trying to get him back and now what? You don’t want him here?”
“Why are you defending him so quickly?” Ohno looked at him in wide-eyed shock. “I understood Masaki but you- he almost got you killed!”
“This isn’t about what he’s done though is it?” Sho muttered, looking at Jun to give him some ideas.
“You still feel guilty for sending him away.” Jun nodded back at Sho, having been wondering this himself before he glanced over at Nino who was looking downcast. “I’m assuming you did go to Satoshi to tell him what their request had been and what they had done to Masaki?” He waited until Nino nodded softly before turning back to Ohno. “See? He made a big mistake, yes, we all know that. But you keep asking him why he didn’t just talk to someone when he did come to you for help before and the reason you can’t forgive him is because you know that it’s partly your fault that it all happened and you can’t forgive yourself yet.”
“And he’s sorry for bringing that up but it’s better for it to all be out in the open?” Aiba added hesitantly as the pair stared at each other waiting for the other to say something.
“I guess.” Ohno muttered, looking at Nino, hope in his eyes though he tried to quell it and seem indifferent. “Fine, we’ll go to the hospital. Then we go back to the police station but whatever the outcome, I don’t want him having access to any files or evidence and I’m sure that Dawn can take care of that, right?”
“Yep.” Dawn smiled, going forward herself more into the group and hearing Sho chuckle though she ignored him. “I think me and Sho need to be properly introduced to the magician though.”
“Now?”
“I’d leave her to it if I were you.” Sho spoke up; knowing that smile of hers was all a ploy at this moment.
The others watched in shocked confusion as Nino frowned and raised his hand to shake hers, only to find himself on the floor a few seconds later when Dawn’s fist connected with the side of his head.
“OK…now I’m confused.” Nino rubbed his face, looking up at her. “Not that I didn’t deserve that but I’m injured already, you know.”
“Exactly, we’re going to the hospital anyway.” Dawn shrugged, still smiling. “Better than leaving it until afterwards.”
“So that was for…?”
“Shooting Jun.” Dawn crouched down in front of him. “And for scaring Masaki like you did because he really really wants to believe in you, you know? And I guess for breaking into our apartment and burning down the police station. Oh! And for making Ohno stop trusting people.” She tilted her head to one side, her smile brighter and normal now. “So I had to do something but now it’s fine.”
“Geez.” Nino played with his jaw for a second. “Doesn’t saving your life get me any points?”
“No, not really, not with me anyway.” Dawn gave Nino a conspiratory smile to show they’d heard the conversation on their earpieces. She stood up, holding her hand out for Nino’s. “Let’s get going then before I start feeling guilty for punching you even though you deserved it.”
“What about my introduction to Sho?” Nino looked slightly worried, as if his introduction might be a lot worse.
“Please, Sho’s been obsessively looking over your case files for months, I’m sure he knows as much about you as your friends here.” Dawn rolled her eyes, unable to resist. “I’d put him on stalker alert if I were you.” She whispered loud enough for them all to hear.
“Dawn!” Sho spluttered, his cheeks turning slightly pink at the way she’d put it.
“Don’t worry Sho~. He was your biggest fan before all of this happened.” Aiba grinned, watching Nino turn a shade of red too even if he wasn’t in any condition to actually argue with a hyperactive Aiba. He gave him a nudge towards Sho before walking off with the others.
Ohno watched the exchange silently, keeping behind them all to make sure they were all alright. The prospect of everything finally going back to normal seeming unreal and weird in his head even though he hoped that was what was happening right now. He looked up at the sky, at the grey clouds and the grey scenery but wondered if it was just a little bit brighter or if his imagination was playing tricks on him.
“Hey, if we’re doing snarky comments already to show how normal everything is, can I say something? You do realise you’re dating a hooker, right?”
A/N: I hope that was a good ending for everyone ^.^ And apologies~ I never made up anything for the group because to me this story was about getting Nino back, or following the trail, you know? But anyway I may or may not think up a sequel :/ I have a few ideas but not enough to think I could do anything as dramatic as this story XD I wouldn't want to ruin it by writing something that didn't have the same feel to it ^^; anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I'm slightly upset at having to give all the curiosity up XD jokes, speak to you all soon. Mich x